La singularité de la criminalité des gouvernants ou de leurs actes peccamineux réside dans la rareté des condamnations qu’ils ont subies. En examinant sur la longue durée, les formes de dénonciation de ces délits des hommes de pouvoir, le livre essaie de comprendre les raisons qui aboutissent à la rupture du consensus et à la remise en cause de l’acceptation sociale des traditions jusqu’alors tolérées (corruption, extorsion, abus en tout genre). Les différentes contributions examinent les conditions de ces condamnations, morales et politiques, et dessinent un tableau nuancé de ces pathologies du pouvoir qui loin d’être invariables dans le temps sont articulées aux paradigmes moraux de chaque société historique. Les contributeurs sont: Nathalie Barrandon, Anne-Catherine Baudoin, Franck Collard, Kathleen Crowther, Angela De Benedictis, Silvia Di Paolo, Julien Dubouloz, Patrick Gilli, Cedric Giraud, Thomas Granier, Laurent Guitton, Charles Guerin, Corinne Manchio, Nancy McLoughin, Hélène Ménard, Richard Newhauser, Flocel Sabaté, Armand Strubel, Julien Théry et Silvana Vecchio English: What is singular about the criminality of rulers or their sinful acts is how rarely they are convicted. Through a long-term study of the forms of denunciation of crimes committed by those who hold power, this book tries to understand the reasons that lead to breaking the consensus and calling into question the social acceptance of traditions which had hitherto been tolerated (corruption, extortion, different types of abuse). The various contributions investigate the moral and political conditions of these convictions, and give a well-balanced account of these pathologies of power: far from being invariable over time, they are consistent with the moral paradigms of each society in history.

Kings throughout medieval and early modern Europe had extraconjugal sexual partners. Only in France, however, did the royal mistress become a quasi-institutionalized political position. This study explores the emergence and development of the position of French royal mistress through detailed portraits of nine of its most significant incumbents: Agnès Sorel, Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Diane de Poitiers, Gabrielle d’Estrées, Françoise Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Françoise d’Aubigné, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, and Jeanne Bécu. Beginning in the fifteenth century, key structures converged to create a space at court for the royal mistress. The first was an idea of gender already in place: that while women were legally inferior to men, they were men’s equals in competence. Because of their legal subordinacy, queens were considered to be the safest regents for their husbands, and, subsequently, the royal mistress was the surest counterpoint to the royal favorite. Second, the Renaissance was a period during which people began to experience space as theatrical. This shift to a theatrical world opened up new ways of imagining political guile, which came to be positively associated with the royal mistress. Still, the role had to be activated by an intelligent, charismatic woman associated with a king who sought women as advisors. The fascinating particulars of each case are covered in the chapters of this book. Thoroughly researched and compellingly narrated, this important study explains why the tradition of a politically powerful royal mistress materialized at the French court, but nowhere else in Europe. It will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the French monarchy, women and royalty, and gender studies.

The death penalty was unusual in medieval Europe until the twelfth century. From that moment on, it became a key instrument of rule in European society, and we can study it in the case of Catalonia through its rich and varied unpublished documentation. The death penalty was justified by Roman Law; accepted by Theology and Philosophy for the Common Good; and used by rulers as an instrument for social intimidation. The application of the death penalty followed a regular trial, and the status of the individual dictated the method of execution, reserving the fire for the worst crimes, as the Inquisition applied against the so-called heretics. The executions were public, and the authorities and the people shared the common goal of restoring the will of God which had been broken by the executed person. The death penalty took an important place in the core of the medieval mind: people included executions in the jokes and popular narratives while the gallows filled the landscape fitting the jurisdictional limits and, also, showing rotten corpses to assert that the best way to rule and order the society is by terror. This book utilises previously unpublished archival sources to present a unique study on the death penalty in late Medieval Europe.

Sparks of Divinity is a collection of the teachings of yoga master B. K. S. Iyengar first published in a French-English bilingual edition in 1976. The material for this book was gathered and compiled by Noëlle Perez-Christiaens from class notes and correspondence during the formative years of Iyengar’s international career. The entries cover the period from the late 1950s, when Iyengar was invited by Yehudi Menuin to teach in Gstaad, Switzerland, to the year following the death of Iyengar’s wife and the opening of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India. When Noëlle first studied with Iyengar in Pune in 1959, Iyengar was still teaching his pupils one-on-one at his home. During her stay in India, Noëlle was regarded virtually as one of the household, and this intimacy continued in their subsequent letters, where Iyengar wrote to her more as a colleague and friend than as a teacher. We are fortunate to include Noëlle’s Indian Journal for 1959 and her Early Life of B. K. S. Iyengar, translated into English especially for this edition, for the intimate glimpses they give of Iyengar’s personal life and family. Sparks of Divinity is also a testament to the deep bond between teacher and student. In an afterword about Noëlle, we learn how an early suggestion from Iyengar moved her in a completely new direction, and how she attributes her discoveries about Aplomb (natural balance) to Iyengar’s ongoing inspiration.